Liberal Democrats

I am convinced it was a protest vote and not about 'getting on with Brexit'. I am also convinced that MPs know this but won't say so publicly. The reason imo is that if we have a confirmatory vote they will have to tell their constituents which way they intend to vote and are too worried that they could lose votes as a result and consequently their jobs. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

If a voter felt strongly about staying in the EU I don't think they had a choice but to send out a message by voting for someone not in either of the two major parties.

I found a link this morning to a talk by a Dr Bob Gill at Poole. It is on YouTube. It is a good talk about the NHS and what has happened to it and continues to happen. Well worth watching if you are at all worried about things happening and whether or not we will continue to get treatment as we age.

If a voter felt strongly about staying in the EU I don't think they had a choice but to send out a message by voting for someone not in either of the two major parties

I imagine many Remainers voted LibDem locally, but for many, it wasn't about leaving or staying in the EU, more of a two fingers up to the Conservative and Labour Parties, and rightly so.

Leavers know May and Corbyn are Remainers (shame on Eurosceptic Corbyn for ditching his long held principles) so Leavers will not vote for either party in a General Election, but, they won't vote Lib Dem either - three Remain choices.

The only true Leave Party is The Brexit Party. They appeal to those who feel once again the main parties are ignoring them. They have gained support because democracy doesn't exist at Westminster.

The Conservatives lost control of our local council and I am glad. My friends in the NE are equally glad Labour fared dismally in the local elections too.

They underestimated the strength of feeling, once again. I love people power. Don't we all?

The Lib Dems can bask for now. Vince Cable and co, as staunch Remainers, should enjoy their victories, knowing their popularity is short lived. If there had been a Brexit candidate in every local election they'd have stormed it. It's pathetic that after three years we may be forced to have EU elections this year.

You cant be sure of that though, can you? We need a second vote and a hope that everyone takes it seriously this time. We need proper options with proper facts.

The Lib-Dems will be cheered to know that you-gov has remain at 61%

When The Brexit Party wins The EU elections you won't need a second vote (loser vote) because that will be confirmation enough that voters want to leave, not be half in and half out with Mays deal (Treaty) but leave on WTO terms.

You don’t “win” the EU election as it’s proportional representation. There’s not a Remain party - that vote will be split, so even if Brexit Party is the biggest party with, say, 30% of the votes and therefore gets the most MEPs , the other 6 or however many parties get less than that it doesn’t signify a “win” as 70% will not have voted for them, so if remain supporting parties split the remain vote it’s not the same as a simple leave/ remain choice.

If the Brexit party are going to do so well why did Ukip do so badly?

I will vote tactically against labour.

So if lib dem are viable I will go with them
If not, that means cons

So LD have a good shot of getting default tactical votes from people like me who arent overly fond of LD but hate labour more.

The only way to find out if leave would win, is to have a confirmatory vote which includes all options. Now that many more people (by no means all ) understand the issues we could hope for a more informed vote.

On this occasion I voted for the Lib Dems. I am fed up of two party tribal politics and also rather sick and tired of May and Corbyn. I was over joyed they both got a kick in the Ballot Box, pity though it was not the GE.
I shall certainly vote LD at the eu election. In fact, I shall do so this afternoon for I have already received my postal vote.

Day6 you said "Leavers know May and Corbyn are Remainers" and I know others have said it to. How do you '"know" please?

Firecracker why are you so convinced? On what do you base that opinion please? What is better about WTO terms than what we have at the moment?

I know May and Corbyn are Leavers , which is why neither of them will get my vote.

Nonnie
Teresa May told us she voted to remain.
As for Corbyn I think there's a clue in the fact that he's been slating the eu ever since he became an MP.
You would have to have been on another planet not to have heard or seen the videos.

I think May only went for 'Remain' because she thought it would be the winning side. If she'd believed in Remain I think she would have handled it completely differently (despite what Leavers think of how she has handled it). She certainly wouldn't have jumped in all gung ho about leaving absolutely everything. Nor would she be ignoring everything she undoubtedly knows about foreign interference and the illegalities of some of the Leave campaign.

Or she has someone holding a gun to her head and threatening to disclose something that would ruin her and the tory party ...

Or she's just plain insane...

MaizieD
On a serious note i really don't think she's thinking clearly now.

I have never understood why poor people vote conservative.

If the only true leave party is the brexit party and they get over 50% of the votes in the EU elections, that may indicate that most UK citizens want to leave the EU. If they get less than 50% it will show a majority want to Remain.

varian no I can’t agree with you there because this vote is not a referendum, and you simply can’t interpret the vote as such. People vote the way they do for all sorts of reasons.

The only way to know if the voter is happy to leave on any deal cobbled together by May, or decided that to inflict as much economic damage on this country as possible through no deal, or that none of it is worth the division and strife, or we should simply revoke, or simply that they are bored stiff with it, or a plague on all your houses, type of referendum

You see? Even in a referendum people will vote for all sorts of reasons. Interpreting the voters intentions is extraordinarily difficult. When politicians claim they know, they are lying yet again.

Varian and Whitewave

I agree with what both of you have just said ?

Varian, I like your post because it clearly (and intentionally, I assume) applies the warped logic that some leave politicians/supporters have used when claiming that any vote for either the Tory party or Labour at the last GE shows support for Brexit, which has always been ridiculous! But ridiculous or not, it seems only fair to now apply same logic in the scenario you describe. After all, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as they say!

Whitewave, I agree like your post because imo what you have said is absolutely correct. That still wouldn't stop me using Varian's argument in some circumstances though - in other words, as a comeback to anyone making the ridiculous claim that I mentioned above ☺

"I have never understood why poor people vote conservative."

How about these for a few reasons, Alexa?

Dislike of being patronised by well-heeled socialists in the Hampstead/Islington belt;

Distrust of interfering nanny state wasting the money they pay in direct and indirect taxes;

Aspiration to make one's own way in the world and be like those people who live in the neighbouring Conservative constituency;

Irritation at being dismissively referred to as "the poor".

N.B. I have never voted Conservative, and I am not poor, but I do have powers of observation and imagination.

It is well established that local elections do NOT reflect general election voting despite what the media say. The Liberal party is bound to gain a lot of seats at the next general election, they have so few now they can only improve. They may well hold the balance of power in any new government as may the Greens, DUP or SNP but that is likely to be the nature of politics in the future.

Compromises all the way and I don’t look forward to that it would put us on a par with Italy or Australia.

I think the other issue with regard to the EU elections is a major one.

The BP has one policy. So it will be clear what individuals want when they vote for the BP.

Every other party, is an established political party with policies covering a broad spectrum.

Good post grumppa!

Alexa your post is unbelievable.

Hear hear grumppa.

The Netherlands always has a coalition government David and it works well. When we lived there we even had a 'purple' government - right and left together and it worked well. Compromise is not always a bad thing.
For example the Conservatives like to save and Labour like to spend - maybe compromise is the way forward.
It is about time we had a party more down the middle instead of the far right and far left. Maybe then we would not be in the mess we are now.